Billionaire Peter Thiel finds a Hollywood Hills rarity

Lauren Beale, Los Angeles Times

To find out where the smart money is buying real estate these days, one need look no farther than the Hollywood Hills. Billionaire venture capitalist and hedge fund manager Peter Thiel recently cherry-picked a house there for $11.5 million.

Thiel has a track record as a shrewd businessman, having been an early investor in Facebook. He is the former chief executive and co-creator of PayPal.

The 1.25-acre property he bought is a rarity among local homesites; it has two driveways that lead to different streets.

FOR THE RECORD:Peter Thiel: An earlier version of this online article misspelled Peter Thiel’s last name as Theil.

The 6,000-square-foot house, designed for indoor-outdoor living, has a Hawaiian Islands vibe, four bedrooms and five bathrooms. There is a swimming pool and panoramic city views.

Thiel, 44, owns other properties in Hawaii and San Francisco, where he is based. He will be teaching a computer science class at Stanford University, his alma mater, this spring.

The house was sold outside the Multiple Listing Service, marketed as a pocket listing by Barry Sloane ofSotheby'sInternational Realty, according to local real estate agents not involved in the deal. They also reported that Andrew Clark and Barry Peele of Sotheby's represented Thiel.